I have a side door that has a deadbolt (parts missing pins missing, just wrongly installed) that I am looking into replacing. I never “enter” the house through that door, only use it to exit to side yard and come back, so a key lock is useless to me while the door way itself is useful.

To me, it is now down to a non-keyed deadbolt (no, I don’t mean a touch pad, digital bluetooth kind, I mean the kind that only has a thumb turn on one side, and a blank plate no key hole on the other) vs a relatively bulky single cylinder deadbolt (like a schlage b60).

I don’t mean to be an a__ hole, but most online reviews regarding these sorts of things are from end users (“I am very happy with the product, its easy to use…”) who have never actually tested the products themselves (an end user can be happy with a door lock because it is slick and easy to turn, until they find out a burglar can pick it in less than a second).

So, folks who have experience in destroying locks, what do you think? Well built deadbolts nowadays, they look to have inches of solid metal core and hard to destroy, versus those dinky little cover plates on a non-keyed deadbolt. On the other hand, all locks can be picked/raked/bumped etc so taking away the key hole seems like a good idea. All things equal (I’ll have frame reinforcement plates with 3 inch screws in place), it is a toss up to a novice like myself, what do you think?

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